Oddbean new post about login | logout I will simply never vote for a candidate who proposes taxing unrealized gains. On this issue I think slippery slope arguments are valid and historically grounded. I also think it betrays a fundamental lack of understanding and economic illiteracy. More troublingly, it indicates a perspective on the relationship between government and citizen that I think is anti-American. nostr:note1n5feqtv6nd4lvcrufnjvpdzaer2lv7cf07v38th6zlkzpt0w3e6qcej3vk
The thing I hate the most about property taxes is that they turn you into a serf on the states plantation. Don’t pay? They take your property.
What, then, differentiates real estate from other forms of property? The whole thing may be illegal. But the laws are not immutable. Really just comes down to how close the needle is to people NOPEing the fuck out of the US with their money. Way ahead of them.
If you never sold, how do you get the money to pay the tax? She’s a dumb fuck.
I don’t think they care. I am convinced each subsequent generation views the previous gens oversteps as normal - and thus they push the envelope ever forward. “[new policy here] isn’t that big of a deal - it’s just *one more step* in a long history of steps! It’s tradition!” This ends in slavery or a revolt.
Both candidates feel like terrible choices. How can our democracy have degraded so severely?